Outdoor lighting systems, such as lighting for roadways, streets, and parking facilities typically include several street lights deployed to improve the safety for drivers, riders, and/or pedestrians. Such outdoor lighting systems have also been shown to help reduce crime as well. Thus, continued operation of the street lights may be an important aspect of any deployed outdoor lighting system.
However, one or more street lights of an outdoor lighting system may become defective after initial deployment, either by not functioning at all, by producing less than the desired light output, and/or by not turning on at the desired times. The maintenance of these outdoor lighting systems are typically performed by a regional municipality or a designated maintenance authority. Regardless, the sheer number of street lights typically included in an outdoor lighting system may make the task of detecting defective street lights difficult and time consuming. Some municipalities simply resort to relying on a manual reporting system, where citizens are expected to report observed problems with the outdoor lighting system. For example, the municipality may provide a hotline for citizens to call and report a street light that is not functioning properly. However, in these cases it has been found that people rarely know about the reporting system, or even if they do, they rarely take the time to contact the appropriate authorities. Other municipalities may rely on a more proactive approach where workers are sent out to drive around manually inspecting street lights. However, this approach is a time and effort intensive task. Furthermore, there are even incidents where street lights may fail in an inconsistent manner, such that it may be difficult to spot a defective street light in a single inspection.